Sun: Solaris Powers Sprint's New 3G Network

Sun Microsystems and Sprint have announced that Sun products and technologies are providing infrastructure and service delivery technology for Sprint's PCS Vision -- the company's Third Generation (3G) wireless products and services -- that recently debuted nationwide.
Sun and Sprint have announced that Sun products and technologies are providing infrastructure and service delivery technology for Sprint's PCS Vision -- the company's Third Generation (3G) wireless products and services -- that recently debuted nationwide.

Sprint and Sun say they are delivering the first nationwide convergence of Internet services, wireless data and voice to consumers and business people. Working end-to-end from the backend server system to the mobile handset, Sun's technologies, including Solaris, SunONE software, Java technology and Sun servers, give Sprint a scalable, secure standards-based platform for the delivery of interactive wireless data services to Sprint's more than 15 million wireless customers.

"Sun Microsystems has played a pivotal role in our migration to next-generation network services," said William T. Esrey, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Sprint. "As the convergence of the Internet and wireless technology gains momentum in the market, we will continue to rely on Sun's technologies -- both hardware and software -- to provide the scalability and reliability we need to successfully change the way Sprint wireless customers work, learn, play and communicate."

Initially, PCS Vision from Sprint will include services that allow consumer and business customers to use their Vision-enabled PCS Devices to take and receive pictures, check personal and corporate e-mail, play games with full-color graphics and polyphonic sounds and browse the Internet wirelessly with speeds comparable to a home computer's dial-up connection. Sprint plans to continue enriching the customer experience throughout the remainder of this year and into 2003 with an evolving set of applications, content and new capabilities such as streaming audio and video, and even faster data speeds.

One of Sun's biggest markets is the telecommunications industry, where Sun has had to fight off competiton from the likes of IBM and Linux vendors seeking to enter the lucrative market segment. The agreement calls for Sun Netra and Sun Fire servers running Sun ONE software (based on Solaris), with Java 2 Platform, Micro Edition(J2ME) as the content platform for the delivery of a vast array of applications and content to Sprint customers. Sun Professional Services and Java Engineering were also tapped by Sprint to provide consulting services for Sprint Vision Wireless Services.

"Sprint's 3G launch is a significant event both for the wireless industry and Sun," said Scott McNealy, Chairman, Sun president and CEO. "Sprint's approach is an example of end-to-end design in action. By choosing Sun's open-standards based architecture, Sprint is now able to rapidly expand their 3G Network in order to add services that will meet customer needs as they arise."